I say that as an entree into what happened last night. A guy from The Resistance has been inviting me to online viewings of old movies. I finally decided to do this. Partially I did so because I want to keep on his radar; his networking skills and his constant needling of The Powers That Be at our alma mater are things he does masterfully, and I think I need to tap him in case I need him. Also, the movie he and his friends were screening was Animal House. There are many legendary movies I have not seen, and that is one of them, and I have wanted to see the film, so I thought this was a good time to finally see it.
That was a mistake. It was primarily a mistake because of the environment in which I saw it. I have friends. I like friends. But I don't like people who constantly talk during a movie, and this screening was fucking nothing but people who wouldn't shut up. Well, I take that back. I think there were about ten people watching. Three of them spoke during the flick. One of them tossed an occasional fun fact about Animal House, and that was appreciated. One of them flapping his gums was the host/guy who invited me/part of The Resistance. He kept opening his mouth, saying dumb and sometimes inappropriate jokes that weren't funny. Oh, and he insisted on an after-movie Q&A where he dominated the discussion by asking what was everybody's favorite line. Shit, man, can I just go?
The other guy, and he seems to be his friend, was even more fucking obnoxious. He spent half the movie saying the lines aloud. Yes, Animal House has lots of memorable lines, but they're memorable because the actors said them, not him. And in the other half he was cackling like a goddman jackal. Like Joe Biden said to Trump, I just wanted to say, "Would you just shut up, man?"
Hey, if people were talking around me in a movie theater, it would also be distracting. But I could openly hate those people. I was, for lack of a better word, "with" these people with whom I was watching the flick, so I don't think I could tell them to shut up, and biting my tongue in this situation kind of pisses me off. Oh, and I wasn't completely focusing on the movie; I was scrolling through my e-mail and Facebook from time to time. And on top of all that, I kind of forgot that the Utah Jazz was trying to stave off elimination from the Los Angeles Clippers. I have made it a point to listen to the radio broadcast of the about-to-be-eliminated NBA or NHL team on Sirius XM. But even though I thought I would break away from Animal House to listen to at least the end of the Game, I finally concentrated on the movie and forgot about tuning in, and so I missed inhaling the schadenfreude of hearing the Jazz broadcasters sound despondent at the horn of the loss that ended their team's season. The movie wasn't worth missing that.
I don't feel bad about going to films alone now. Last night reminded me why I do. I wish I could see that motherfucker again the next I go by myself to see a movie. He'd laugh in my face again, and I would fucking crush his skull.
Oh, and as for the film ... while I've wanted to see Animal House, I wanted to because everybody has seen it and I want to know what the hype is all about. In the back of my mind, however, I had a suspicion that I wouldn't like it. Gross-out flicks/sex romps aren't my thing -- not now, and not really when I was younger, either. And yep, I didn't like it. Just don't think it's funny. And the stuff they do and show is incredibly, conspicuously dated now. Fucking a 13-year-old? Not in this day and age, buddy. (Not really then, either ... or at least I hope not.)
However, I do like all the women's breasts that were shown in the movie. I will touch myself to those images one day. But, there are three women who show their privates (two their breasts and, apparently, [I didn't see this because I was surfing the Internet] Karen Allen her ass), and they are seen later in Animal House fully clothed. It might be a stretch to say that the flick presents these characters as fully-respected human beings, but for a movie as degenerate as this, seeing the actors nude and then giving them lines after they put their clothes on stands out, and I think in a good way. I will probably masturbate to their boobies and butties, but it looks as if a movie made when this was made was not so hung up about not just sexualizing but also "othering" an actress who agrees to take her clothes off on screen. If this were a modern sex romp/gross-out flick, you can bet your bottom ass that the only women showing their tits will be glorified extras who portray characters that have no relevance to the plot. That, uh, normalization of a woman's sex life has been lost in today's movies, and I think society needs to see that reality in movies and TV shows. Just an observation ... and again, an observation I could have done without if I had listened to the basketball Game instead.
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